Terra: A My Hero Academia Story (Indefinite Hiatus)
by Coveku
Summary: Terra is a story set in the world of My Hero Academia (Boku No Hero Academia). It's set 5 or 6 years before the events of the My Hero Academia manga/anime. In a world filled with quirks, people must decide whether to take the path of the Hero, the Villain, or just an everyday person. But, when evil strikes only the Heroes can appear and save the day.
1. Akira Kato: Origin

The world of quirks is a mysterious one. No one knows exactly how quirks first came about, they just appeared. Scientists have been getting closer to an answer, but they still don't have solid proof yet. How long will it remain a mystery? Only time will tell. But, with the sudden appearance of quirks, new occupations appeared. One of these occupations was being a Hero. Being a Hero meant that you would risk your life for the safety of others using the quirk that manifested in you. When Heroes started appearing, Villains also started growing in numbers. It was basically a game of cat and mouse for many years, maybe even decades. But, eventually, a symbol appeared. Someone who can prove that we can defeat any Villain that appears. That symbol is All Might, the symbol of peace. As the symbol of peace, he fought for everyone's lives, but in fighting for others he's also risked his life. As long as we have our symbol, we can defeat anything that comes into our path. I'm Akira Kato and this is my Hero's journey.

At the age of four, my quirk manifested like many others. My quirk, Terrain Manipulation, allows me to control the earth below us. Letting me cause earthquakes and rocks to come from the ground. It's pretty cool when you see it in action but that's beside the point. With my quirk, I planned to become one of the greatest Heroes of all time. Although maybe the greatest of all time is a bit of a stretch. I'm nowhere near as strong as All Might after all. No one's even close to his power. But, I could still do well and try as hard as I could to become a great Hero. Now that I think about it, the fifth best hero is more realistic than the number one hero. Oh, I'm getting off track again, sorry. Hmm, I think I should give some background on myself first.

Like many other people, I manifested a quirk at age 4. That quirk is Terrain Manipulation. I've already explained the basics of it so I won't go over it again. My life was pretty simple, I had a stay-at-home dad who cared for me and my mother was a hero. My mother had a quirk similar to mine except she had less control over the ground compared to me. She was a great hero. She was my idol. But, when I was 10-years-old... she went missing. The cause of her disappearance was unknown and after a while... the case to find her was put on hold. To a kid, losing one of your parental figures is one of the worst things that can happen. When I was around 14-years-old, my father gave up on my mother ever returning, but I held on to the hope. Even though it seemed nonexistent, I held on. The hope that I held onto gave me the motivation to become a great hero, to find my mother. My father tried numerous times to explain to me that she just wasn't coming back, but I never listened. Eventually, he gave up on trying to talk some sense into me since he knew that the hope of my mother returning was fueling my motivation to become a hero. He wanted to support me in my dreams and that was the only way he could.

I've decided to start my story at the beginning of my high school days. It was my last term of middle school and I was 15-years-old. People were choosing high schools that they wanted to attend and preparing for their entrance exams. While I was still trying to figure which school I wanted to go to. Obviously, I wanted to attend UA Academy, the best Hero school in the world. But, I always told myself that I needed to think realistically and just choose a different Hero school that has a higher acceptance rate. But, one conversation with one of my old pals changed my view.

 **January 17, 2009  
Saturday**

I was laying on a patch of grass on my old middle school's grounds, thinking about my high school options.

"Hmm... Maybe that one? No, I've heard the Heroes that come out of that school aren't that great." I pondered, "Maybe... No, definitely not. Hmm... I can't think of anything!" I yell out, flailing my arms in the air. I guess my buddy must've heard me yell so he came over to check on me. My friend is Goro Nakano. He's been my friend since we were kids. He's pretty short for his age. At the time he was about 5'3" or so. He had a buzz cut similar to the style you'd see in an anime. Green eyes and pretty skinny. He was a bit of an oddball, but we were good friends. Wait a minute. I just realized that I never explained what I looked like in middle school! I had blue eyes, well, I say "had" but I still have blue eyes now. And I had really messy brown hair. I was a pretty carefree kid in middle school. My grades weren't the best, but I was passing. But nevermind all that, let's get back to the story. Goro walked up to me, seeing that something was obviously wrong. He asked,

"Hey, Akira? What's wrong?" Reluctantly I turned my head towards him and sighed.

"Just trying to figure out what high school I want to go to." I said as I turned my head back to the sky, "All of these schools just don't seem fit for a Hero." Goro put his hand on his chin and started humming like he was thinking. After about 30 seconds or so of him humming he said,

"Why don't you just go to U.A.! I mean, your quirk is powerful and flashy enough to get in." I picked myself up quickly and turned my head to look at him.

"Seriously?!" I shouted, "I always thought my quirk wouldn't be good enough for U.A." After I said that Goro started laughing. "What? It's true!" I yelled. He wiped away the tears from his eyes and took a deep breath.

"That is not true." he said with a serious, yet convincing voice, "Your quirk is one of the best in the class. Of course it would be a good quirk for a Hero." My mouth slightly opened as I stared at Goro, speechless. His face turned a light shade of red and he looked the other way. "T-that's what I think, at least." I slowly stood up and I put both of my hands on Goro's shoulders.

"Thanks, Goro. I really needed someone to talk some sense into me." I said. I took my hands from his shoulders and clenched my fists, "It's settled then... I'm applying to U.A. Academy." I said, full of confidence.

"And I am too!" Goro yelled excitedly.

"What?!" I yelled back at him, "You're going to apply to U.A. too?!"

"Yea! So we can go to the same school!" He smiled, "And U.A. is the best Hero school around, so why wouldn't I want to go!" I smiled and put my arm around him.

"Well, if we're both gonna go we need to get training. The entrance exam is in a little over a month." I said. Goro chuckled,

"Don't worry, I be we can get into U.A. without even training!" I looked at him with a confused face and just shook my head.

And this was the beginning of my future as a hero. But, at the time of this decision, I didn't realize how much it would change my fate. For better or for worse.


	2. False Hope

The U.A. Entrance Exam was on February 26th that year. Since Goro and I decided we would be going to U.A. a month before the exam, a lot of preparations had to be made. We started training on Sunday, January 18th. We weren't sure how the entrance exam would be structured, so we didn't know what to train for specifically. Instead of just training for a certain scenario, we trained for all kinds of scenarios. We decided to meet at the local gym. Since we both had memberships, we could easily use the equipment and things that the gym provided.

 **January 18, 2009  
Sunday**

"Alright, where should we get started?" I asked. Goro looked around the gym and turned back to me.

"Well, we have about 40 days until the exam, so we don't have a lot of time. So, I say we should just work on cardio for today," explained Goro. I nodded and then we got to work. We were in the gym for about 4 hours until we were both totally wiped out. Honestly, not much was done on that first day. We should've started out by training our quirks, but I digress.

 **January 24, 2009  
Saturday**

We tried to do as much training as we could through the week, but since we had classes it was hard to find time to. But, we decided to meet up on Saturday to do some more training. We had agreed to meet up at Goro's house. His backyard is huge and mostly used for quirk training. Since his father was a pro hero, it's only natural that they would have something like that in their backyard. I had just left my house and was on my way over to Goro's place. But, little did I know that I would get some extra quirk training on my way over.

Goro's house, which is basically a mansion, is on the outskirts of a small town in Japan. Because of this, I had to pass through this town while walking to his house. The walk from my house to Goro's house is about twenty minutes. At this point, I'd been doing it for years so it didn't bother me. I had been walking through the city when I heard a short, but loud scream.

"AHHH!"

"Huh?" I question as I look over across the street, where the scream came from. A large man pushed a woman down and stole her purse. He started to run and for some reason, so did I. While I ran towards the man, I extended my right arm out horizontally. Rock from the ground started to cover my entire arm and hand. At the time I didn't even realize what I had done, but it didn't matter at that moment. I made it across the street and continued to chase the man. "Hey!" I yelled, trying to get his attention. He stopped in his tracks and turned his head back so he could see me. I also stopped running once he came to a stop.

"What's a kid like you doing trying to stop a guy like me?" the man asked. His voice was deep and scratchy. He sounded like he had been smoking for most of his life. I opened my mouth but no words came out. I had just realized the predicament I put myself in. There's no way I could take on a villain. I was just a kid! But, I also realized that it was too late to back down. I didn't really have a choice. I had already covered my right arm with rock, so I was kind of combat ready. After calming myself down a bit, I finally spoke.

"Give it back," I demanded. The man just started dying of laughter.

"Oh... Oh, this is rich! You think by stopping me that you'll become some kind of hero?" The man said as he outstretched his left arm towards me with his hand open, "Newsflash, kid. It's gonna take a lot more than that to become a hero." Right as he finished his sentence a wave of force came from his hand, making me fly back. My back collided with a light post, denting it and knocking the wind out of me. The people watching gasped and a man in a business suit ran up to me to check if I was okay. The robber spoke one last time before running off, "Heh. I love using my quirk on light people, they fly like birds! Well, nice try kid but I'll be taking this!" He started to run off, but suddenly a flash of light appeared from behind him and in an instant, he was out cold. All Might appeared above him and picked up the purse.

"Is that All Might?!" someone yelled.

"I didn't know he was in the city!" yelled another person.

"Can I have your autograph?!" multiple people yelled. All Might walked over to me and kneeled down next to me.

"I'm not sure what you did kid, but you were probably more heroic than anyone else here. I'm sorry for what happened, I'll get you to a doctor as soon as I return this purse." All Might stood up and asked, "Who does this purse belong to?" A woman comes from out of the crowd, breathing heavily.

"Me, All Might! It belongs to me," she said. All Might handed the purse to her and picked me up.

"I'm terribly sorry everyone. I know you all want to talk, but I must get this boy to a doctor immediately. I hope you understand." he said. All Might squatted down and jumped up, flying into the air. "Thank you for your continued support!" he yelled. "Now let's get you some medical attention, kid," he said to me as we were flying. At that point, I was barely conscious. I couldn't see, but I could hear and tell what was going on around me. The only thing I could think about was how I was gonna tell Goro about this. He was gonna be so pissed that I stood him up for training.

After I was injured, All Might took me to a hospital so I could be treated. My injuries weren't anything too serious, but I still needed to be checked. When All Might dropped me off I was unconscious from the burglar attack. So, All Might handed me over to the doctors and went off to do more hero work. After about 3 hours or so, I woke up.

"...Ugh..." I groaned. I slowly opened my eyes to see my father and Goro sitting in the two chairs across from my hospital bed. Goro was looking up from a magazine with a semi-surprised look on his face. My father jumped out of the chair and came over to the side of the bed.

"Finally you're awake. I was so worried about you, Akira," he said in a caring voice. Goro smiled and put his magazine on the table next to him. He lifted himself out of the chair and walked over next to my father.

"Y'know, you really gave us a good scare," Goro said. "And you even went and got training against an actual villain?! Now I'm even further behind!" he shouted. I chuckled.

"Yea, I'm sorry," I said. My father, Tsunenori, put his hand on mine.

"...I-I know that the injuries w-weren't severe, but... I'm so glad you're o-okay, son." he stuttered, trying to hold back tears. I smiled and reached up to hug him.

"I won't worry you anymore, dad," I said, still hugging him, "I promise." Suddenly, the door slowly opened. A doctor holding a clipboard entered the room. He looked down at his clipboard and flipped through a few pages.

"Akira Kato?" he asked. I nodded in response. "I have your reports and a message from the chief of police."

"The chief of police?" asked my father. The doctor nodded.

"We can get to that after I tell you the reports," he said. "Okay, luckily the impact wasn't large enough to fracture any bones, but you will have pain in your back for a few days at most. I request that you take the medication provided to you so you can speed up the healing." the doctor explained. I nodded. My father was glad that nothing much happened to my back and so was Goro. "Onto the message from the chief."

"Dear, Akira Kato. Today you were involved in a situation where a burglar attacked you. I don't know the exact details of what happened before you were attacked, but if you were to attack him without a hero license, you would be in serious trouble. Luckily, that did not happen, but you were injured in the process. Other than that, eyewitnesses said you used your quirk to pull rocks from the street, leaving a small hole in the street. I know it isn't much, but you will need to pay for the damages. The total amounts to $150. Please bring the payment to the police station at your convenience. Thank you. Stay safe."

After the message was read, the room was silent for a few seconds, but it seemed like minutes. Eventually, my father spoke.

"I have to pay $150 because you cracked the road?!" he shouted. "Seriously?!" The doctor jumped from him shouting. I put my hand on my father's shoulder. He stopped and turned his head to look down at me.

"I'm broke. You can pay for it right?" I asked.

"Huh?!" my father questioned.

"Huh?" I questioned also.

"Are you serious?!" my father shouted again. "You need to learn to clean up your own messes, young man!" It went silent again for a few seconds. Then, Goro started dying of laughter and so did I. "...I'm being serious by the way." my father mumbled. Goro wiped some tears from his eyes and turned to me.

"Well, at least you didn't end up injuring the burglar. Without a license, you could've gone to jail," said Goro. At the time I had no idea that was the case. I had always just thought that if you had a good reason, you could fight villains all you wanted. But, obviously, that isn't the case.

"Yea, that wouldn't have been good. Especially with a month until the U.A. Entrance Exam. I would've had no chance." I said. My father shrugged.

"There's no point in worrying about stuff that happened in the past," he said, as he put his hand on my head. "You have to just keep looking at what's ahead of you!" Goro and I stared at my father silently. "...Oh, was that too inspiring?" he questioned. I chuckled.

"Thanks, dad. For everything." I said. My father looked like he was about to cry waterfalls after I had said that. But, he held them in, surprisingly.

"Well, when I got here the doctor said you would be discharged once you woke up. So, we can leave now if you want to." said my father. I nodded in agreement.

 **January 28, 2009  
Wednesday**

Goro and I were hanging out at a local café after school. We had just got our food and sat down to eat. By this point, my back was feeling better and I wasn't feeling much pain anymore. Next to our table, there was a TV playing the local news.

"Nothing interesting has been happening around here lately. Except for the burglar attack of course," said Goro.

"Yea, I wouldn't be surprised if the most intense news report today is about a cat stuck in a tree." I joked. But, I was wrong.

"Breaking news! We have breaking news!" yelled the news lady. Goro and I instantly turned our heads to look at the TV. "The villain that attacked a child and was defeated by All Might a few days ago has already broken out of prison!" Our faces changed to an expression that could only be described as true horror.

"...Wh...What..?" I muttered. Goro grit his teeth.

"No way..." he said.

"Villain name: Zephyr. This villain has a quirk that can launch powerful air blasts out of his palms. It might not sound dangerous at first, but it is extremely powerful. Please be careful while strolling the streets everyone! The police are conducting a search as we speak. That is all for his breaking news. Now, for the weather." the news reporter explained. The entire café went silent after the report was made. Goro sat there just staring at the TV with his mouth open. I had my head down on our table, clenching my fists. ' _What is this feeling..?_ ' I thought.

That... That was false hope.


	3. There's Always Time To Train

**January 28, 2009  
** **Wednesday**

"...You've gotta be kidding me..." Goro whispers, "He wasn't even in prison for a week..." To this day, even I don't know how he broke out of the prison. It must've been some low-rank prison since he was only a burglar, but still. Goro looked down at me. I still had my head in my hands on the table. "...Hey, you alright..?" he asked me. I slowly lifted my head up and looked at him. I stared at him for a few seconds then I nodded my head up and down.

"I'm fine. It's just shocking news, that's all." I replied. Goro titled his head to the side in confusion.

"Are you sure? You seemed pretty upset..." Goro questioned. I looked back down at the table and sighed.

"Well, yeah, I'm upset. Since I had an encounter with this guy I probably feel different about his escape than a lot of other people. Most people probably just brush it off and continue with their daily lives. But, I just can't brush it off. Even though my scuffle with him didn't last more than 30 seconds, I just feel... responsible in a way. But, I wouldn't be able to do anything to him anyway because of quirk laws and all that. So I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this feeling... This feeling of regret. And now I'm thinking, 'If only I wouldn't have gotten involved, maybe things would be different.'. It's pretty dumb, right? Having this kind of feeling over a purse burglar..." I said. I look back up and over to Goro in shock, "Oh! Sorry, I kinda started rambling there... But, you get the point." I muttered. Goro stared at me. Then, he chuckled.

"As always you're being way too hard on yourself," he said.

"Huh?" I questioned.

"You did this exact same thing not even two weeks ago, Akira. You said that you wouldn't be able to make it into U.A. with your quirk even though you already knew that your mom became a hero with basically the exact same quirk." Goro remarked. I looked back down at the table. "Look, all I'm saying is is that none of this is your fault. You had nothing to do with this outcome." Goro said, "Now come on, we should be heading home." I nod my head and stand up. Goro starts to walk towards the exit.

"I understand what you mean, but..." I whispered. Goro quickly turns around.

"What?" he questioned. I clenched my fists and said,

"I understand... But..." I looked up and stared Goro directly in the eye, "Stop me if I try to do anything drastic, Goro." We both went silent for what seemed like minutes. Goro gulped and said,

"Okay, Akira, but you better not try anything that will make me stop you."

"I'll try," I muttered.

"Don't let your emotions and feelings get the better of you. We'll both get in trouble if you do." Goro stated. I nodded. "Okay, let's go." We walked out of the café and down the street. The street was pretty quiet that afternoon. It seemed like something was waiting to happen, but surprisingly, nothing did. I regret the things I said in that café. I was letting my emotions get the better of me, and Goro noticed. But, those emotions would eventually lead me into something I was not ready for.

 **January 31, 2009  
Friday**

It was Friday and me and Goro decided to meet up at his house for some more training. The U.A. Entrance Exam was 26 days away and we couldn't afford to sit around and worry about anything other than training. The area that we were training in was Goro's backyard. It was very spacious, as I've explained before. The ground was mostly just dirt, with an outline of a battlefield made with white paint. There was various training equipment scattered around the area. We were doing quirk training when Goro came to me with an idea.

"Do you wanna spar?" Goro suggested.

"Oh! Uh, sure!" I said while fumbling to stand up. "What are the rules?" I asked. Goro puts his hand on his chin while he thinks.

"5 minutes! We'll have 5 minutes to make the other person give in!" he exclaims. I chuckle.

"You're getting awfully excited about this, huh?" I said.

"Wh-what?! No! I was just... making sure you got the rules!" he stuttered.

"Alright, alright. Let's get this started then." I said. Goro then quickly pointed his finger right in my face.

"One more thing! If you go out of the ring, you automatically lose," he explained. I nod and we each went to separate ends on the battlefield. "Obviously, quirks are allowed!" Goro yelled from the other side of the ring. I gave him a thumbs up and smiled. He smiled back with determination in his eyes. Goro started the countdown, "Ready..." I swiftly moved my right arm closer to the ground so I could cover it with rock quickly. "Set... Go!" The instant Goro yelled "Go!" he was already sprinting towards me. Quickly, I covered the entirety of my right arm with a strong layer rock and dirt. Then, I covered my left arm with twice the amount of rock and dirt to use as a shield. My left arm was extremely heavy because of the materials, but I didn't need to move it much since I would only use it for blocking. As I finished covering my left arm, Goro was about halfway through the battlefield and getting closer. As he reached the middle, he activated his quirk, **Claws**.

With his quirk, Goro can grow claws out of the knuckles on his hands whenever the quirk is activated. They can also disable them when they want to too. The claws are comparable to a tiger's claws in sharpness and power. Also, the claws are made out of some sort of bony substance. (Imagine Wolverine's claws. That's how the quirk works.)

As Goro was about 10 feet away from me, he leaped up into the air and pulled back his right arm, ready to strike. The second his foot left the ground, I slowly lifted my rock covered and heavy left arm to block his incoming attack. Luckily, I blocked it right on time and his claws collided with the rocks, causing his claws to get stuck. Goro then placed his left hand on the rocks covering my arm.

"Thanks for the foothold, Akira!" Goro shouted. I slightly exhaled as a noise of confusion as he retracted his claws from his right hand and placed that hand on my arm too. With all his strength, he launched himself over and behind my head by lifting himself with up with his arms.

"Wha-?" I questioned as he vanished from my sight. Since my left arm was so heavy I wasn't able to rotate my body, all I could turn was my head. As I turned my head to look behind me all I could see were four long claws pass my periphery and slash straight down my back. I let out a groan from the pain as I stumbled forward. 'Going on the defensive won't work when I'm up against Goro.' I thought 'I gotta go full attack mode!' Goro landed on his feet and turned to me.

"You still wanna go? Or do you give up already?" Goro asked, full of confidence. I chuckle.

"You're like a completely different person when you're fighting, you know that?" I said as I removed most of the rock and dirt from my left arm until it was a single layer. "Oh, and I'm not finished yet. Come at me!" Goro smiled and bolted towards me. 'Now that I don't have anything weighing me down... I can use my quirk to its full potential.' I thought. Swiftly, I motioned my arm like I was underhanding a baseball throw. As I did that, a huge wave of dirt came out of the ground.

"Shi-!" Goro blurted as the wave or dirt covered him. A few seconds after he was covered with dirt, he broke out and sprinted towards me again. "Playing dirty, huh?!" he yelled. He got up close to me and swung his right arm near my head. In an instant, I ducked under the swing and pulled back my right fist. With all my might I punched Goro right in the stomach causing him to launch backward, coughing. But, right before he slid out of the ring he stuck his claws into the ground, stopping his momentum. I smiled at the sight of this and I got even more excited. Goro smiled, "I think that's enough for toda-" Goro coughed. "You got me pretty good."

"So, I win then?" I asked. Goro nodded while coughing. "Here, let me help you up." I offered. Quickly, I removed the rock and dirt from my arms and walked over to Goro and lifted him up. "You got me pretty good too, Goro. My back still kinda stings." I said. Goro chuckled.

"I'm surprised I got a hit on you in the first place." Goro joked while trying to walk by himself.

I scratched the back of my head and said, "Yea, I was trying to go for a more defensive fight style, so I was a bit slower than usual." Goro stumbled a bit and I caught him before he fell. "Let's take a break for a bit, alright?" I suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'm pretty hungry." Goro said.

I sighed, "Let's take care of our injuries first. You don't want to eat while in pain, do you?"

Goro laughed, "I guess not."

After the spar, Goro and I rested up and got better. Days went on and training got more intense. We did more sparring and intensive quirk training to make sure we were ready for anything. Eventually, the big day arrived.

 **February 26, 2009  
7:30 A.M.  
The Day of the U.A. Entrance Exam**

The day that changed my life forever.


	4. The Big Day

**February 26, 20XX  
** **7:30 A.M.  
** **The Day of the U.A. Entrance Exam**

The U.A. Entrance Exam, one of the many moments in my life that I will never forget. There are many reasons why I'll never forget it, some of which are pretty obvious, but there's one main reason out of all of them. Today is the day that I took my first step. My first step towards becoming a hero

I had woken up around 6 A.M. so I could prepare myself physically and mentally. To wear, I had a white tank top, black sports shorts, and emerald green sneakers. Nothing too showy, but it got the job done. After brushing my teeth and combing my hair, I grabbed my phone and promptly walked towards my front door.

As I put my hand on the doorknob, my father called out to me. "You're leaving already, Akira?" questioned my father. "The exam doesn't start until 9:00 a.m."

I took my hand off of the doorknob, "Yea, I'm meeting up with Goro so we can go together." I said.

"Ah, alright. Well, good luck. I'm rooting for you, son." my father said. I smiled proudly and nodded. I reached for the doorknob once more and turned it. As I walked out the door, my father gave a quick thumbs up and shut the door.

"Here we go..." I said to myself.

 **February 26, 20XX  
** **8:05 A.M.**

It took me about 30 minutes to get to Goro's house from my house. I didn't want to spend any money yet, so I just decided to walk over. When I showed up, Goro was already waiting outside of his house and ready to go.

"Hey, Akira! You ready for this exam?" Goro asked as he ran up to me.

I took a deep breath, "Ready as I'll ever be." Goro put his arm around me and shook me around.

"C'mon Akira! You're way too serious about this." he said, still shaking me. "If you're worried about how you'll do then you shouldn't worry at all! You'll do great." I smiled and nodded. At the time, I was too nervous to realize he was right. Listening to him would've calmed my nerves a bit. "Alright, let's go ace this exam!" Goro shouted.

"Since when are you so pumped up about this stuff?" I asked. He looked up and put his hand on his chin.

"Hmm..." he thought. "Well, I think I got pumped up when I realized that we don't need to worry! With all the training we've done I feel like there's no way we can fail," he said confidently.

I chuckled, "I don't know how you can be so care-free in a time like this... I'm extremely nervous." After I said that, Goro punched me in the shoulder. I turned to him and asked, "Hey, what was that fo-" Goro poked my forehead with his index finger and left it there. "Wha-" I tried to question. He took a deep breath and went silent for a few seconds.

"You. Will. Be. Fine." he said slowly. I just stared at him as he took his finger off my forehead. "You've got no need to worry." Still, I just stared at him and didn't say anything. "Now let's go get our tickets to U.A., Akira!" he said as he started to run towards the train station.

"H-hey! Wait up!" I yelled as I chased after him.

 **February 26, 20XX  
** **8:50 A.M.  
** **U.A. Campus**

When Goro and I showed up to the campus it was already packed full of people attending the exam. I had always seen U.A. in pictures and on the internet, but I had never seen it in person before this moment. I remember feeling anxious and excited at the same time. The school that my mother went to was right in front of me and ready to take in new heroes. I was not about to miss this chance. Goro on the other hand...

"Woah! This place is huge! Look at all the people! Akira! Akira! This is so surreal isn't it?!" Goro shouted while jumping around like a little kid. He was a bit... too excited. But, I can't blame him. It really was surreal walking on U.A.'s grounds.

"It is surreal," I said. Goro stopped jumping around when I said that. He turned to look at me.

"Hey, are you okay? You seem calmer than you were this morning," he asked.

"I seem calmer? Didn't even notice." I responded. When I think about it, I was probably calmer when we arrived at the campus because I had that feeling, y'know? That feeling that something good was going to happen. Obviously, you can't trust that feeling all the time, but I trusted it just this once. Goro stared and squinted at me while walking. Since he was staring at me, he wasn't paying attention to what was in front of him. He ran right into some boy's back and fell onto his butt.

"Oof! Uh, sorry... I wasn't watching where I was going..." Goro apologized. The boy turned his head around slowly and had a somewhat menacing look on his face. At that moment, we could see death itself, coming for us. Only a few steps onto U.A. and we were already dead. Well, we thought we would die, but the menacing look instantly changed to a caring expression.

"Oh! Sorry, I was probably walking too slowly. That's my bad. Here, let me help you up." offered the boy as he put out his hand. Our images of death in our heads quickly shifted to the nicest thing you can imagine. Goro grabbed the boy's hand and was lifted up. "Are you okay? You took quite the fall there." asked the boy. Goro had trouble finding his words.

"O-oh! Yeah, I-I'm perfectly fine! Thanks for helping me up." Goro stuttered. The boy closed his eyes and showed a big heartwarming smile.

"Glad to hear it!" he beamed. This boy scared us so much originally because of his height. He was 5'9" at the time, while I was standing at 5'5" and Goro was at 5'3". He had bright white, spiky hair that added, like, three inches to his overall height. He was also pretty built, which also scared us. But, when he smiled like that, all of our worries went away in an instant. "So, what are your names?" he questioned.

"I'm Goro Nakano," Goro introduced, "and this guy here is Akira Kato." I waved to the boy when Goro introduced me.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"I'm Hisato Murakami. Nice to meet ya!" he said as he outstretched his hand for me to shake. I reached out my hand and shook his. He had a very firm grip, I could tell he was good at introducing himself. "I'm assuming you guys are here for the entrance exam?" asked Hisato.

"Yep!" Goro shouted, "We're both gonna pass and get into U.A.!" Hisato smiled.

"I like the enthusiasm! It gets everyone else pumped up!" Hisato shouted.

"Yea, Akira! Get pumped up!" Goro moved closer and shouted again. I pushed him back slowly.

"I'm as pumped up as I need to be," I remarked. Hisato really knew how to change the mood quickly.

"Well, we don't want to be late to the exam! Maybe I'll see you guys in there, see ya!" Hisato cheered as he walked away.

"See ya, Hisato! Wow, what a guy," Goro said, "Now I'm even more pumped!"

"He's a really good influencer, huh?" I said.

"Huh? Did you say something?" questioned Goro. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Oh, nothing important," I said.

"Ah, alright then. Let's head in, Akira!" Goro exclaimed as he ran ahead. I sighed and ran after him.

 **February 26, 20XX  
** **9:05 A.M.  
** **U.A. Auditorium**

To this day I still have no idea how they fit all these kids into one auditorium. But, that's beside the point. We all gathered in an auditorium to get information on how the entrance exam is going to be structured. An old man walked to the middle of the stage and a podium rose out of the ground. He cleared his throat and shuffled some papers around.

"Welcome, to the U.A. Entrance Exam," the old man began, "All of you here are aspiring to become great heroes, and that is why you chose U.A. as your preferred high school. We are honored to have so many young heroes attend our prestigious school. But, before we can let you in, you must prove to us that you are worthy to be granted the title of Hero. Here at U.A., we're always looking for the best of the best to represent the hero society. Our symbol of peace, All Might, attended and graduated from U.A. and I have faith that most of you can do the same. But, obviously, there will be some of you that aren't suitable for U.A.'s high standards and that is fine. That does not mean you can not become a hero, but you will not be receiving the intense training and education that U.A. provides..." the old man continued with the cliche introductory speech.

"Will he ever get on with it?" I asked, slouched back in my chair. Goro turned to me, shushed me, and put all his focus back on the man. I sighed and decided to just put up with it. After about 3-5 minutes of the same stuff, the old man finally started explaining the exam.

"Now, with that out of the way, allow me to explain how the practical exam will be structured. When you walked into the school, you were given an exam ticket and a printout." the old man explained. Since we signed up for the exam beforehand, we were given an exam ticket with an examinee number and we were also assigned a battle center. There were seven battle centers labeled A, B, C, and so on. These centers were replicas of downtown cities with many structures. The old man continued, "After this presentation, you will proceed to the battle center that you were assigned to. But, before you go to the centers, allow me to explain the practical exam. On your printout, there are four pictures of silhouettes. These silhouettes are your enemies. To pass the exam, you must gain points from defeating faux villains. The first silhouette is worth one point, the second is worth two, and the third is worth three. The fourth is not worth any points and is there as an obstacle. I'd recommend avoiding that one if you can. You can use your quirks to their fullest potential, but you are not allowed to attack other examinees under and circumstances. In short, your goal is to defeat as many faux villains as you can in the allotted time, which is ten minutes. Before I set you free to attempt the exam, let me leave you with our school motto. The hero Napoleon Bonaparte had once said: _'A true hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes.'_ Go beyond... Plus Ultra." finished the old man. Goro tapped on my shoulder.

"What battle center are you in, Akira?" he asked. I looked down at my exam ticket.

"Hmm... It says here I'm in center F." I replied. Goro turned to his ticket and scratched his head.

"Huh, even though our examinee numbers are consecutive..?" he muttered.

"What center are you in?" I asked as well.

"I'm in C..." he mumbled.

"You seem kind of upset with that." I joked.

"Well, I wanted to work with you!" he whispered, "But, now that I think about it... that would be cheating, wouldn't it..?"

"Yea, it would be," I said.

"Oh, and one more thing," said the old man, "Good luck. You'll need it."


	5. Entrance Exam

**February 26, 20XX  
9:30 A.M.  
Battle Center F**

After the presentation, all of the examinees went to their assigned battle center. Like I explained before, we were separated into seven different centers. Goro was in C, while I was in F. All of the centers were replicas of cities with skyscrapers and large streets. The goal was to obtain as many points as possible from the faux villains that were placed around the area. We didn't know how many villains were in the battle center, so it made keeping track of the villains even harder for us. At my assigned battle center, there were at least 40 people at the entrance.

Goro's presence really calmed me down after we entered U.A. So, I was calmer than I was before we arrived, thanks to him. He made me feel more assured that I will do well. Back on the topic of the examinees at my battle center... I had thought that I didn't know anyone at mine, but...

"Oh! Is that you, Akira?" A cheery voice called out to me. I turned around to see Hisato walking up to me. In case you forgot, Hisato is the guy that Goro ran into while we were walking into U.A. I waved to him as he walked over. "I didn't know we had the same battle center!" he said, "What a coincidence, right?"

"Yeah, I didn't expect to see any familiar faces," I replied. He smiled and turned to look at the group of examinees in front of us.

"There's a lot of people here, huh?" he questioned.

"I was thinking the same thing," I said, "I'm not sure how they got enough faux villains for us to defeat."

Hisato put his hand on his chin, "Well, they didn't design this exam so everyone would pass." he stated. I was kind of shocked that Hisato could say something without shouting, and something very accurate at that.

My eyes widened and I pointed my finger up like I just thought of a good idea, "You're right!" I shouted. "None of us are guaranteed to pass this exam. They definitely wouldn't fill the entire center with villains. If they did that, too many people would pass." I turned to Hisato, "I don't know how I didn't realize that!" I said.

Hisato chuckled, "We just have to make sure to-" Suddenly, loud feedback came from an intercom from a tower behind us. Everyone simultaneously covered their ears in pain.

"Okay, start." someone said over the intercom. Everyone stood there, confused. There was silence for a while, but then the doors into the center started to slowly open. "In life, there's no countdown. So, we already started." said the person over the intercom. People started to quickly run into the battle center.

"Well, I guess we're starting!" shouted Hisato, "I'll catch up with you later, Akira!" Hisato swiftly ran into the crowd of people and I quickly followed after.

Once we entered, people were firing off their quirks like they were nothing. Faux villains were being destroyed in seconds and the numbers were already lowering. After seeing all of this, I decided to try to find a place that not many people were at. I ran down a few blocks to find some faux villains. After a bit, I encountered three 1-point villains and two 2-point villains. I sprinted towards them and motioned my right arm out. Rock covered my forearm with the end being pointed, like a spear covering my fist. When I got close enough, I motioned my left arm up and created a ramp with the earth below me. I jumped off the end of the ramp and stabbed the 2-point faux villain in its head, destroying it. Since I stabbed it, the rock on my arm got stuck within all the circuits and wires in its head, so I stopped using my quirk to keep the rock on my arm. Once I stopped using my quirk, the rock just crumbled off into pieces.

Honestly, if I took this exam with my current set of skills, I'd be able to wipe out a block in a second. I'm not trying to brag, but I'm just saying. Oh, I'm getting away from the current events, sorry.

I continued with the same strategy for the rest of the faux villains, which weren't really trying to attack that much. When I ran in for the attacks they kind of just sat there and didn't try to retaliate. After a while of doing the same tactic, I took them out. By now I was getting tired, even after all the training, I was still using my quirk more than I usually did.

"Okay, that's seven points..." I said while panting, "I need to change up my strategy or I'll be out in no time..." I didn't have much time to think since we only had ten minutes, but I came up with something. I decided to just have hard rock covering my forearms and fists throughout the exam. With it, I'd be able to put out plenty of power while also keeping myself from overusing my quirk. I went on through the exam taking out the faux villains pretty easily. The person over the intercom said there were two minutes remaining. So far, I had acquired 47 points. The area I was in earlier in the exam had no villains left, so I went to where everyone else was.

When I arrived, there were broken villains everywhere. But, surprisingly, there were still many villains in the area. I looked around quickly to see if there were any villains that people weren't attacking, but then a huge explosion came from a few blocks down and a large dust cloud filled the streets.

"What just happened?!" shouted an examinee.

"We gotta get out of here!" shouted another.

A rumbling sound kept getting louder as it got closer. I saw people running away from the direction that the sound was coming from.

"Run!" screamed a girl as she ran past me. Someone ran into me while they were running, pushing me to the ground.

"What the-?" I tried to question. As I started my sentence, a large robotic hand reached around the corner of the building and crushed the corner, causing some of the building to crumble off and create more dust clouds. A huge robot on two equally huge continuous tracks turned around the corner and stared everyone down. "Holy shit," I whispered to myself.

 **February 26, 20XX  
9:35 A.M.  
(10 minutes ago)  
Battle Center C**

Let's take a break from me for a second to check in on Goro. The exam had just started for all the battle centers and everyone was charging in to defeat the villains. Goro was near the front of the group of examinees, so he reached one of the villains first. He activated his claws on his right side and swiftly sliced right through the middle of the 2-point villain, cutting it in half.

"I did it," he whispered to himself while smiling. While he was standing still after taking out the villain, a 3-point villain ran up and tried to swing at him. He barely dodged and ran in to stab it. But, his claws bounced right off the robot's metal plates. "Wha-?" he questioned. Trying to think of a strategy, he jumped back and let the robot go in for the attack. As the robot lunged at him, he ducked down to the left and spun around to the back of the robot, dodging the attack. On the back of the robot's chest piece, there was a hole that had no plating.

'A weak spot!' Goro thought. He quickly stabbed his claws right into the opening. The robot shook around violently, then fell to the ground. 'Five points..!' he thought to himself, 'I just need to keep this up and I'll definitely pass!' Goro turned around to see three 1-point villains charging at him. Goro froze in place. 'Why won't my legs move?' he thought, 'C'mon, move!' The three 1-point villains leaped towards Goro and he prepared himself for the beating he was about to take. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth, standing his ground. But, the villains stopped in mid-air and hovered.

Goro slowly opened his eyes after realizing he hadn't died yet, "Huh?" The villains hovered in the air in front of Goro with a weird yellow energy surrounding them. In a flash, the robots were thrown into a nearby building, destroying all three. Goro sat there in shock and confusion, "What the hell was tha-?"

"Me." Goro turned his head in the direction of the voice to see a girl with yellow eyes, similar to the color of the energy. She had straight, black hair and a monotone voice.

"You did that?" Goro asked. The girl nodded in response. "Woah, that's a really cool quirk!" said Goro, "Is it telekinesis or something?" Without responding, the girl walked away and started destroying more villains. "Wow, good talk," Goro said sarcastically. After the encounter, Goro continued on with the entrance exam and when time ran out, he had 49 points.

"Time's up." said the man over the intercom. When the man announced that it was over, Goro instantly plopped on the ground and panted.

"49 points, huh..?" he said to himself, "Not too bad..." He sat there and breathed heavily for a few seconds, "I wonder how Akira did..."

 **February 26, 20XX  
9:44 A.M.  
(One minute remaining)  
Battle Center F**

The streets of battle center F were destroyed, along with any remaining faux villains. The 0-point villain's track marks were ingrained in the pavement. Luckily, all of the examinees made it out of the street before the villain had destroyed it, but the other villains didn't. I hid in a nearby alleyway until the time was up. I knew that with that amount of points I had that I would most likely pass, so I didn't risk running out into the street again. Even if I did run back out, there would be no point. Since all of the faux villains were destroyed, no one could gain any more points. Kind of a boring way to end it, but it seemed like the safest option at the time.

"Time's up." announced the intercom man.

The U.A. Entrance Exam had come and gone before I even knew it. This moment was definitely a life changer. But, this entrance exam was just the start. My journey to becoming a great hero was just beginning.


	6. The Key To The Future

**March 1, 20XX**  
 **Sunday**

It's been three days since the U.A. Entrance Exam and all of the participants are patiently awaiting their acceptance letter. The higher-ups at U.A. said that the letters should be out in three days, so everyone is anxious. Even I was anxious at the time. I felt so confident about my number of points when the exam ended, so I didn't even worry. But, now I'm second-guessing everything. I was sitting in my room just laying in my bed, waiting. While I was laying down I could hear thuds and other noises outside my room. The noises kept getting closer and closer until my dad swung my door open.

"Hey! Can I get some privacy here?!" I yelled. My dad sat in my doorway, panting. I looked at him with a confused look.

"Akira... It came..." he said while gasping for breath. My eyes widened and I sprung out of bed.

I quickly took the letter from my dad's hand, "I'll be out in a second." I said. My dad nodded and I shut my door. This was it, the key to the future. I ran to my desk and put the letter down. Slowly, I opened the letter and pulled it out. I was hesitant to look inside. What was in this letter could be my future or it could be my failure. After a few seconds of mentally preparing myself, I unfolded it.

Principal Nezu  
U.A. Academy  
Musutafu, Japan  
March 1, 20XX

Akira Kato  
Musutafu, Japan

Dear Mr. Kato,

Thank you for participating in the U.A. Entrance Exam! In your efforts, you managed to gain a grand total of 47 points. With this amount of points, we're happy to tell you that you have passed the entrance exam and have been accepted into U.A. Academy! This is great news for us all and I hope that you are pleased with the results. Now, I would like to go over some things relating to the school. The school year starts on April 7, 20XX. Be sure to come to school on the first day for orientation and other fun things! Obviously, you will need the basic school materials and such. Your uniform will be sent to you within the next week, so expect that to show up soon! I believe that is everything that I needed to cover. I can't wait to see you and all of our other new students on April 7th! Plus Ultra!

Sincerely,

Nezu

After I finished reading through the letter, I sat there at my desk in disbelief. Is this a joke? Am I dreaming? Those are just some of the many questions that were going through my head at the time. While I was sitting at my desk a drop of water landed on the surface of the desk.

"...Huh?"I questioned softly. Tears started streaming down my face. I sniffled and wiped my face. My dream, the one thing that I wanted most in life, had finally started to take shape at that moment. Finally, I started to have hope for the future and hope for finding my mother. I had always thought about searching for her, but I never had the motivation to. But, now that I was about to become a hero in training, I could start moving toward that goal. Well, that's what I thought at least, but I soon found out that these next three years would be the hardest years of my life.

A few minutes after I read my acceptance letter I got a text. It was from Goro.

* * *

 **Goro Nakano**

* * *

 **Goro:** hey Akira! just got my acceptance letter andim so pumped! text me when u get urs! - 12:44 P.M.

* * *

I smiled when I read the message and wiped any extra tears off of my face. Learning that Goro got into U.A. was one of the most relieving moments of my life.

* * *

 **Goro Nakano**

* * *

 **Goro:** hey Akira! just got my acceptance letter and im so pumped! text me when u get urs! - 12:44 P.M.

 **Akira:** i just got mine too. so relieved that u got in. i was worried that one of us would have to go alone - 12:45 P.M.

 **Goro:** awesome we both got in! im so excited to go to ua. how bout u? - 12:45 P.M.

 **Akira:** mostly nervous, but very excited - 12:46 P.M.

 **Akira:** im just glad we made it - 12:46 P.M

 **Goro:** same here! now we just have to get ready for our first day - 12:47 P.M.

 **Goro:** april 7th rite? - 12:47 P.M.

 **Akira:** yep - 12:47 P.M.

 **Goro:** ok cool so we still have about a month - 12:48 P.M.

 **Goro:** oh! i just thought of an idea! - 12:48 P.M.

 **Akira:**? - 12:49 P.M.

 **Goro:** lets celebrate our acceptance into ua tomorrow! we can hang out and stugg! - 12:49 P.M.

 **Goro:** stuff* - 12:49 P.M.

 **Akira:** that sounds fun. ill have to ask my dad but im sure he'll be fine with it - 12:49 P.M.

 **Goro:** alright sweet! get back to me on that - 12:50 P.M.

* * *

I set my phone down on my desk and stood up. When I lifted myself up I wobbled around a bit, struggling to find my balance. Eventually, I balanced myself. I guess I had stood up too fast or something. I walked over to my door and slowly opened it. My dad was waiting outside leaning against the wall, twidling his thumbs. The instant I opened my door, his head shot up so fast. He gave me a look that spoke for itself. The kind of look where they're waiting for an answer. It was pretty obvious that I was crying earlier. You could see the red marks under my eyes from wiping them. My dad noticed and that made him worry more. I simply just gave him a thumbs up and smiled. The look on his face changed to realization and he started crying more than me.

He ran up and hugged me, "I'm so proud of you Akira!" he yelled while sobbing. I just sat there and let it happen. I pat him on the back a few times and eventually, he stopped crying and pulled away. "So, when's your first day?" he asked.

"April 7th," I replied.

"Oh, so you've still got a little bit over a month left," he said.

I nodded, "Goro wants to hang out tomorrow in celebration of being accepted. Oh, yeah, Goro got in too." I said.

"That's great! You can enjoy your time there together then!" he said enthusiastically, "And I don't mind if he comes over, you guys deserve it after all of the work you've done."

"Thanks, I'll tell him," I said. I started to walk back into my room, but my dad stopped me.

"Akira, this is kind of random to bring up now, but... I know I never supported you in your wish to find your mother. I'm so sorry about that." I turned around with a concerned look and he continued, "I've never really apologized for it. Back then I didn't know what I was doing. Grief had taken over my mind and all of the worst case scenarios popped into my brain. So, I never supported you the way a good father should've." Tears started to fall down his face again and the same for me. He sniffled and took a deep breath, "I know that you entered U.A. so you could become a great hero and find your mother, I've known that for a while. I won't stop you. But, from this point forward I will support you in any way I can. I'll support you with anything you need and be a great father like I should've been all those years ago."

Time seemed like it had frozen in that instant. I was standing there with a shocked look on my face and tears flowing down and my dad stared at me with caring eyes that I hadn't seen in a long time. I had no idea how to respond. I was thinking of ways to thank him or tell him not to worry about it or something, but instead of saying something, I gave him a big hug and started sobbing. He returned the hug and we both cried. I remember this moment so vividly like it happened yesterday.

 **March 2, 20XX  
1:23 P.M.  
Monday**

After my interaction with my dad, I texted Goro saying that my dad was fine with him coming over. So, at around 1 P.M. Goro showed up.

"Hey, Akira! You ready to have some fun!" Goro yelled as he walked in.

"Fun? Did you bring anything?" I asked.

Goro looked at me with a guilty look, "Heh, uh, no. I didn't bring anything." he said.

"But, I thought I told you to bring snacks!" I yelled.

"I was going to! But... uhh... I forgot." he whispered. I sighed.

"Okay, I'll go get us some snacks from the convenience store. It's like 3 blocks down." I said as I reluctantly put my shoes on.

"I can come with," said Goro.

"Nah, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I'll be back in, like, 15 minutes." I said as I walked out the door.

"Okay, come back safe!" Goro shouted as I shut the door.

At the time, I was kind of annoyed at Goro for forgetting the snacks. But, I was in too good of a mood to let it affect me.

After walking three blocks down in some alleyways close to the street, I could see the store at the end of the road. I started running down there just so I could get over there faster. Ahead of me was a four-way intersection of walkways. The one to my left was an entrance to the sidewalks on the street and to my right was a neighborhood. As I was about to run past the intersection, I bumped into a figure while I was running and I got knocked over.

"Ouch..." I said as I was rubbing my back. I looked up at the person I ran into. They were wearing a red hoodie with the hood covering their face and black jeans. They were pretty built and tall.

"Sorry, kid." said the person. When the person had spoken I instantly recognized the voice. I started thinking of who it could be, running through all of the options. As the figure started to walk away I realized who it was.

"Hey, wait a minute," I said as I was lifting myself up. The person stopped in their tracks and slightly turned to listen to what I had to say. "Are you the criminal that broke out of prison back in January?" I asked. The person didn't move from their spot. "Are you Zephyr..?"

The person still sat there, unmoving. Eventually, they spoke.

"You... I remember you..." said the person, "You're the reason All Might beat the shit outta me..." I took a single step back and gulped. "What a coincidence that we would run into each other on a leisurely stroll, huh?" he said in a menacing tone. I took another step back. I didn't know it yet, but later I would regret calling this man out, for multiple reasons. "Good thing you're on my priority list... I won't have to hesitate then," he said. He turned around fully and lifted his hood off of his head. I was right. The man I had just run into turned out to be the worst person I could run into at this time. "I've been waiting to blast you around again for a long time." the person said. It was him. It was Zephyr.


	7. I Believe In You

_**"When you become a hero, Akira. You'll become even better than me, even stronger than me. Don't worry about high standards or living up to expectations. Those things don't matter. The only thing that does matter, is how you will stand up and fight for what is right. I know you can do it."**_

 _ **"I believe in you, Akira."**_

When my mother was kidnapped, most of my memories went with her. I couldn't remember many of the things I did with her as a kid. But, there's one thing that stuck with me, her words. _The_ words. The words that made me strive to become the best hero I could be. Those words have never left my head and it will stay that way.

Zephyr, the villain that had broken out of prison not even two months ago, stood in front of me. From what I could tell, his intentions were malicious. He was not going to hold back, even if I was just a kid. I had to think of some way to get the heroes to show up and capture him, and fast.

"You're just gonna stand there, kid?" Zephyr asked suddenly, "You aren't going to charge at me like you did last time we met?" It was best that I kept my mouth shut. If I said the wrong thing, it could've made him angrier. He sighed, "Fine. I'll finish this quickly then." He put his arms back and used his quirk, **Blast** , to launch himself forward.

 _With_ _ **Blast,**_ _the user can shoot air pressure out of the palms of their hands. The user can determine the amount of pressure that is released from their palms. With enough force, the user can launch themselves, people, or even cars depending on the force._

Zephyr flew straight at me at a high speed, so fast to where I couldn't even react. He was right in front of me in an instant. He outstretched his right arm and placed his palm on my chest. All of his movements were fluid and quick. They all seemed well thought out and coordinated, much more experienced than I was. I then felt a powerful force push against my chest. It had felt like someone dropped an anvil on my chest. Before I even knew it, I was flying back and bouncing off of the pavement. I was launched at least 30 feet and every single part of my body was in pain.

"...Hnnng... Shit..." I muttered, holding my chest in pain. I tried to stand, but I fell down to my knee and starting coughing violently.

Zephyr chuckled, "Only one hit and you're already out of it? You're still the exact same ragdoll I remember!" He smiled widely, "You better fight back soon... or I'm just gonna have to torture you!" I finally stopped coughing and was able to stand up. There was nothing I could do to this guy. His quirk made him too mobile. Even if I could do something to him, I'm not allowed to fight. I recalled the words of the police chief from his letter...

 _ **"But, if you were to attack him without a hero license, you would be in serious trouble."**_

No matter how much I wanted to fight back, I wasn't able to. If I fought, it could ruin my future as a hero. At that moment, I decided that my best course of action was to call the police and request assistance. I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I instantly went to the emergency call button, but Zephyr realized quickly.

"You're gonna try to call for help, huh?" he smirked, "I won't let you." He put his arms back and launched himself at me again. But, this time he was more to my left side. Again, he was next to me in an instant and motioned his right arm onto my left shoulder. The same force I felt earlier went through my shoulder, but even stronger this time. Honestly, it had felt like he just shattered my entire shoulder with a single hit. It didn't even take a second to reach the wall to the right of me and crash into it with my right shoulder. As I hit the wall, my phone flew out of my hand and crashed into the wall also, destroying it. I bounced off of the wall and fell to the pavement. When I had hit the wall just then, my right shoulder was shattered from the impact and my left was in pain from the force. I lied there on the ground, shaking.

The store clerk from the convenience store heard some commotion from outside and came out to check. She saw me on the ground in pain and Zephyr standing over me. She instantly ran back inside and called the police, and Zephyr noticed.

"I guess I don't have much time left," he said. Zephyr looked down at me and picked me up by the head. He stared me in the eyes with the most menacing look I had ever seen. I just stared back, trying to endure the pain. "Why won't you fight back? This outcome could have been different if you had just tried to throw a punch at me," he stated. I didn't respond. There was no need to. I had my reasons and he didn't need to know them. My reply was continuing to stare him in the face and keeping quiet. "You know what, kid? You're really pissing me off right now. You called me out and now you aren't even fighting back," Zephyr said, "If you won't fight back then I'll just throw you around like the punching bag you are!"

Zephyr then launched me using his quirk down the alley even more. He used less force in that blast, but it was still enough to launch me even further. I bounced off of the pavement again and I stopped in front of the convenience store. At this point, I was in so much pain that I couldn't even move my body. The pain was so immense that my body started to become completely numb. I didn't even use my energy to look in Zephyr's direction. I heard the jingle of the convenience store door opening and the store clerk ran over to me.

"Oh my lord... Are you okay? Can you stand?" she asked me. I slowly turned my head to look in her direction. My vision was blurry and I couldn't see the woman's face at all, but I could tell she was scared. "I called the police. They're sending heroes over here as we speak," she said. Zephyr started to walk over to us.

"Well, thanks for creating another problem for me," he said while walking over, "I'll just have to take care of both of you before the heroes show up."

"S-stop right there!" shouted the store clerk, "I'm warning you!"

Zephyr smiled, "What can you do? If you're working as a store clerk, your quirk is probably useless in a fight like this one!" The store clerk stood up, hesitantly.

"I-I might be quirkless, but I'll stall for the heroes until they get here!" she yelled.

She was quirkless. The absolute worst case scenario in this situation. Me, on the ground in immense pain, and a quirkless, probably mid-twenties, store clerk going up against a villain with plenty of experience. As Zephyr got closer and closer, my mother's words popped into my head again,

 _ **"The only thing that does matter, is how you will stand up and fight for what is right. I know you can do it. I believe in you, Akira."**_

There was no other choice. I didn't have to fight, I just needed to protect this woman from Zephyr. I didn't care what the repercussions would be, I didn't care what would happen to me, the only thing I cared about was saving this woman from this villain.

"...Don't... Don't worry..." I muttered. The woman looked down at me with a shocked expression. Zephyr stopped walking forward and stared at me. I slowly rose up, shakily.

 _ **"...I'll save you..!"**_


	8. I'll Save You

"...Don't... Don't worry..." I muttered. The woman looked down at me with a shocked expression. Zephyr stopped walking forward and stared at me. I slowly rose up, shakily.

 _ **"I believe in you, Akira."**_

"...I'll save you..!" I said as loud as I could

"H-hey! You shouldn't be getting up, you're too wounded!" said the woman.

"...I'm fine..." I said quietly. Eventually, I stood up fully. My right arm had no feeling and was covered in blood, but I could slightly move my left arm. "I'll stall until the heroes get here... You... you need to hide somewhere..." I said while staggering and breathing heavily.

"So, you finally stand up and you decide to play the hero card.," said Zephyr.

"If you stay here and fight... you'll die!" shouted the woman, "You're just a kid..!"

I staggered some more and took a deep breath, "Don't worry about me... You need to get out of here... You need to go before he attacks again..." Suddenly, Zephyr blasted towards us quickly.

"I won't give you time to run!" he screamed. In an instant, I rose up my left arm and created a wall of pavement from the ground to block Zephyr. But, he blasted right through it like nothing. "What was that?! Trying to block me?!" he shouted as he got closer, "Now that you're actually fighting back, this will be interesting!" The whole time he was flying towards us he was pointed at me, but at the last second he changed his course and went towards the woman. "Before I break you, kid, let me break this other piece blocking my way!" he shouted. The woman shrieked as he was about to blast her.

As his palm was about to reach her face, I moved my body towards the woman and pushed her out of the way with my left shoulder. It hurt like hell when I pushed her since my shoulder was still in pain. I ended up right in front of Zephyr when I pushed her, so I took another direct blast. The other blasts before this one didn't even compare to this one. It was aimed at my chest again and the pain went through my entire body when he activated it. With the previous blasts, I was launched maybe 20-30 feet, but with this blast, I was launched all the way to the end of the alleyway and my back slammed into the brick wall. My body had never experienced this much pain in this short amount of time, so I was beginning to shut down.

Once I landed on the pavement after hitting the wall, I couldn't even lift my head up. My body refused. All I could see was black, but I was still conscious. I could hear Zephyr dying of laughter in the distance.

"I can't believe you took that blast and didn't die! That was meant to blow this lady's head off," he said while wiping tears from his eyes, "You're really something else, kid. Not even two months ago you were knocked out from just one of my blasts, and that one was a weak one. But now, you're somehow taking these blasts and still standing back up. Well, at least you _were_ standing back up. I can tell that you've reached your limit." When Zephyr finished his sentence, I could hear police sirens coming from down the street and footsteps getting closer. "Damn, looks like I'm out of time," Zephyr said. He put his hood back up and picked up the woman.

"H-hey! Let go of me!" shouted the woman. Right after she shouted, Zephyr punched her in the face so hard that he knocked her out.

"...No... God dammit..." I groaned.

"Hey, kid. It was a good try, seriously. But, things don't always turn out the way we want them to. I've decided that to break your spirit even more, that I'm gonna kill this woman. I'll make sure that she dies with plenty of regrets. Oh, and just because I'm leaving here doesn't mean I'm finished with you, got it? I'll make sure that the next time we meet it'll be the last." Then, in an instant, he blasted away down the alley and disappeared with the woman.

"...heard the commotion down this way!" a voice shouted. The police and heroes finally showed up, but they were too late.

The encounter didn't even last five minutes and it ended in the worst way possible. The woman was kidnapped by Zephyr. I was taken to the closest hospital in the area and had immediate treatment. Zephyr had gotten away again and ran far out of our grasp.

My injuries were very serious to the point where they brought Recovery Girl, U.A.'s school nurse, in to heal me. Not the best first impression since I would be starting school in the next month. When I woke up, there was no one in my hospital room other than the doctor and a police detective.

"Ah, you're awake. You woke up earlier than we thought you would." said the doctor. I scratched my head and tried to lift myself up, but when I tried I felt so much pain in my back to where I fell back down into my bed.

"Owww..." I groaned.

"I wouldn't recommend trying to move that much. You're probably very sore." the doctor explained. The detective walked over to my bed, holding a file with papers in it.

"Hello, I'm Detective Tsukauchi, I work for the police force," Tsukachi introduced, "You're Akira Kato, correct?" I nodded in response. "You're the one that encountered Zephyr on the day All Might defeated him. What a coincidence that you'd meet him again, huh?" Tsukauchi said.

"I guess so," I said quietly.

Tsukauchi cleared his throat, "Well, let's get down to business. You encountered this villain, Zephyr, in an alleyway near your home, is that right?"

"Yes," I responded.

Tsukauchi shuffles through his papers, "The reports say that you never attacked Zephyr with your quirk, but you did create a small wall with your quirk."

"Yes, I did use my quirk to create a wall and that was the extent of it," I explained.

Tsukauchi nodded, "Alright, that's all I needed to know," He put his papers back into his folder and stood up. I stared at him, confused.

"Wait, how can you be so sure that I'm not lying?" I asked him. Tsukauchi put his hand to his chin and thought for a few seconds.

"I guess I'm just that good." Tsukauchi said as he was about to walk out, "Oh! one more thing, you need to pay another fine for messing up the pavement in the alley. The info will be sent to your father. And doctor, I must speak with you about something outside when you are done talking to him. Get well soon!" He walked out and shut the door.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about your injuries," said the doctor as he picked up a clipboard. "Your right shoulder was broken when you arrived, but Recovery Girl healed it. You will still need a brace for another day or two though. What else... You had a few broken ribs that were also healed by Recovery Girl. You lost so much blood by the time you had arrived. I'm surprised you made it." explained the doctor, "You'll probably be sore throughout your whole body for the next few days, so try not to move around too much."

I nodded, "Thank you,"

The doctor set down his clipboard, "Your father is on his way over here as we speak and you'll be discharged later tonight, but you need some rest before you go. Now, I need to speak with Detective Tsukauchi." The doctor walked out and tried to close the door, but it didn't shut all the way. "...What did you need, Tsukauchi?" the doctor asked. I could slightly hear their conversation. It was rude, but I was too curious not to listen.

"It's about the villain, Zephyr. I know you have close connections with the police force and you are a good friend of mine, so I thought you might want to know," Tsukauchi explained.

"Okay then, go ahead," said the doctor.

"I have just gotten word that when Zephyr escaped he had left behind marks on the ground. Some of our officers followed these marks and we might have found where Zephyr is hiding." Tsukauchi said.

"Really?" the doctor said, shocked.

"Yes," Tsukauchi responded, "We are certain that he is residing in an abandoned home a few blocks down from where the encounter occurred. The police force is planning to raid the home tomorrow night and rescue the woman that was kidnapped."

"Well, if he is in there with her, I wish all of you luck," said the doctor.

"Thank you, we'll need it. I'll see you later," said Tsukauchi.

"Goodbye, Tsukauchi." the doctor said.

A raid on Zephyr's location, which is presumably a few blocks away from the convenience store. This was top secret information that I shouldn't have known about, but I knew I had to do something with it. With this small amount of information, I could find out where Zephyr is. I could go and save that woman that I failed to save. And the next time we meet, I wouldn't hold back.


	9. Two Idiots

**March 3, 20XX  
** **Tuesday**

Soon after I learned the information about Zephyr's possible location, I fell asleep for the rest of the night. When I woke up my dad was there to discharge me, so we went home. Goro was waiting at my house for us. He was extremely worried about me after he heard what happened. I heard from my dad that Goro almost went by himself to the hospital because my dad was taking too long to get ready.

As my dad opened the front door of our apartment, I could hear Goro sprint to the door. My dad opened the door and Goro jumped out and gave me a big hug.

"You really need to stop getting yourself into trouble, Akira!" Goro shouted while trying to hold back tears, "You're worrying me too much..."

Once Goro let go of me, we went inside. I ate a huge meal in a few minutes because the hospital food wasn't very desirable. I finished eating and I took Goro to my room. I was going to bring up the idea.

We walked in and I shut the door. Goro flopped onto my bed and sprawled out. I walked over to my desk and sat in my chair. I had to think of a casual way to bring up the idea... or I could just be straightforward and tell him everything. After some thinking, I decided to be casual about it.

"I learned Zephyr's possible location," I said. Okay, so maybe it wasn't as casual as I remember.

Goro sprang up and looked at me with shock in his eyes, "What? What do you mean?" he asked.

"I overheard the chief of police talking to the doctor about Zephyr's location and how the police might have found it. He said that they were conducting a raid on his location tonight so they can capture him and save that woman." I explained.

"You aren't saying what I think you're saying, are you?" Goro asked, concerningly. I stared at him and nodded slowly. He instantly shot up out of my bed, "Are you crazy?!" he walked over and put his hands on my shoulders, "You _just_ got out of the hospital and now you're planning this?!" he shouted. He looked down at the floor and went silent. He tightened his grip on my shoulders, "Do you realize what could happen to you..?" I also looked down and went silent. I could tell Goro was worried and that he cared for me, but I had already made up my mind.

"I'm sorry, Goro. Even if you don't come with me, I'm still going. It's my fault that that woman was kidnapped. I need to learn to clean up my own mess," I said in a stern tone. Goro slowly looked back up at me with tears in his eyes.

"That's just like you. Worrying about others before yourself," Goro took his hands off of my shoulders, "I don't agree with your choice, Akira. Honestly, most of your choices are really dumb. But, I can't help but keep thinking about what would happen to you if I don't go with you. So..."

Goro, I never thanked him for coming along with me. I pushed him just so he could help me with what _I_ wanted. I never considered his feelings and yet he still came with me. That's why...

"...I'll go with you, Akira," Goro said.

That's why... you're the best friend I've ever had, Goro.

 **March 3, 20XX  
** **5:30 P.M.**

"You're going out?" my dad asked, "But, you need to rest, Akira..!"

"It'll be fine dad, I need to stretch out my muscles anyway," I said.

My dad sighed, "Alright, just be back by 7 P.M. I don't want you boys being out too late."

Goro gave a big thumbs up, "Don't worry Mr. Kato! I'll make sure Akira doesn't get into any trouble!" He flashed a big smile.

"Thanks, Goro. Be careful out there." my dad said as we walked out the door.

"We'll be back soon!" I shouted.

Goro shut the door and we stood still outside for a few seconds.

"Y'know... It was really hard to lie to your dad back there..." Goro whispered.

I took a deep breath, "Yeah, it wasn't easy. He would be so disappointed if he knew..." Goro looked at me with a worried face. "But, that doesn't matter now. We need to get a move on, Goro." Goro nodded and we walked down to the street.

"So where did the police guy say it was at?" Goro asked.

"He said it was a few blocks down from the convenience store, an abandoned home," I explained.

Goro gulped, "Do you know which direction from the store?"

I nodded, "Before I passed out outside the convenience store, I saw the direction Zephyr fled. If we follow that all that's left is finding an abandoned looking house." I continued to explain. Goro nervously nodded his head.

This situation we were getting ourselves into was obviously dumb. I was going to risk possible jail time for my actions just to save one woman. The thought is heroic, but there are so many risks involved that I probably should have stayed home. And yet, I still went, Goro too. We were about to dive head-first into the real world with no knowledge of how we'll come out of it. We were not ready.

We arrived at the intersection where Zephyr and I collided, "Alright, here's the convenience store. From what I remember... Zephyr went down this way," I pointed down the street to our right.

"Okay, let's go look around," Goro said.

We walked down the street for about ten minutes and eventually came across a shabby and abandoned looking house. There was a tall stone wall surrounding the entire home. Both of us just stood in front of it and stared.

"T-this must be the place..." I said. Goro nodded. "Well, let's check it ou-"

Suddenly, we heard a large group of footsteps running down the street around the corner.

"It's just over here! Get ready, men!" a familiar voice shouted.

"Tsukauchi..?" I muttered.

Goro quickly turned to me looking nervous, "Huh?" Realizing what would happen if we were caught, I came up with a quick plan.

I grabbed Goro by his arm and ran towards the stone wall, "We gotta hide behind here or they'll know we're here..." I whispered. We went behind the wall just as the police turned the corner onto the street. There was a large group of police along with the Pro Hero, Gunhead and some other heroes I didn't know. The group of police and heroes stationed in front of the home and stopped.

"You all know the drill! Saving the woman is our top priority here!" Tsukauchi shouted. Goro tapped my shoulder and I turned to him.

"I thought you said they were coming later tonight..." he whispered.

"That's what I thought... I didn't think they would show up this early..." I whispered.

"Go!" Tsukauchi yelled. The group of footsteps continued as they rushed into the abandoned home. I could hear the door be broken down and all of the troops charge in. After they entered, there was nothing. No sound, no yelling, there was absolutely nothing.

"You think they're okay in there?" asked a police officer.

"I'm sure they're fine," replied Tsukauchi, who was stationed outside.

Then, it happened. We didn't even see it. It was over in an instant. The entire building was destroyed in what seemed like seconds. All we could hear from behind the wall was a large blast. The ground shook as we heard screams of pain. We didn't even have time to think. The entire police force that entered the home, gone. Dust and debris filled the air as Tsukauchi and the heroes stationed outside tried to find out what had just happened. The dust finally cleared. The building was in ruins. Bodies everywhere, some ripped apart. The only person that was left standing was...

"Zephyr..," Tsukauchi said angrily. Zephyr stood there in the rubble holding the woman by her head with his left hand. He popped his neck and sighed.

"Using that much power really puts a strain on my arm..." he muttered, "Get out of my way before I have to strain it even more, Tsukauchi."


	10. Counterattack

"Zephyr..," Tsukauchi said angrily. Zephyr stood there in the rubble holding the woman by her head with his left hand. He popped his neck and sighed.

"Using that much power really puts a strain on my arm..." he muttered, "Get out of my way before I have to strain it even more, Tsukauchi."

 _'Did he just destroy that entire home with a single blast..? Does that mean he was using not even a fraction of power against me?'_ I thought. I looked over at Goro to see something that still haunts me to this day. The look of pure terror on his face, it's still ingrained in my head. He was staring at the ground and having trouble breathing from the fear going through him. Once I saw him like this I was reminded of the person he is. He hadn't gone through anything as terrifying as this, that I knew of at least. Even though he was becoming a hero, he hadn't been exposed to the dark side of the world just yet.

I put my hand on his shoulder. He slowly looked up at me with the same look of terror on his face. I mouthed the words "It'll be fine." to him in an attempt to calm him down. He started breathing normally again and stopped shaking. I turned to the right to get a peek around the corner to see what was happening.

"Put the woman down, Zephyr! Or we'll be forced to open fire!" Tsukauchi yelled.

I knew there was no way to reason with Zephyr, and Tsukauchi knew that too. That man, he was too twisted to listen to reason. His motives were unclear and mysterious. No one knew what was going on in his head, but probably none of it was good.

"You want me to let go of this woman? Sorry, I can't just yet," Zephyr said, "I'll hand her over once she's dead."

As Tsukauchi was about to give the order to fire, Zephyr lifted his right arm up in an instant. In a flash, he used a blast with the same power as the previous one directed towards the group of police. Dust and debris flew all over the area as the blast went off and destroyed the street. All Goro and I could do was duck and cover our heads so we wouldn't be hit by any debris. Once the blast stopped Goro tapped my shoulder.

"Are you sure this is the guy you fought..?" he whispered. I nodded nervously and peeked around the corner again. All I could see was debris, dust, and bodies. I slowly turned back behind the wall and put my back against the wall. "...What did you see..?" Goro asked quietly. I couldn't bring myself to tell him what I saw. If I told him, he'd be in an even worse condition than he already was. "Akira?" he questioned. I couldn't tell him. We only had one option and we had to do it quickly.

"We need to get out of here," I said, "Quickly." Goro stared at me with a concerned look and breathed in deeply.

He nodded, "Okay, let's do it..."

"All of you 'saviors of society' fell a lot quicker than I thought you would. You're all pretty disappointing," Zephyr mocked, "Well, now that you're out of the way... I can kill this woman."

"...No..!" Tsukauchi shouted with all the strength he had left.

Zephyr lifted the unconscious woman up and put his hand on her face. The woman that was kidnapped because of me was about to be executed and there I was, behind a wall. I knew I had to do something, but I also knew I couldn't do anything. Zephyr's power was on a whole different level from what I had seen. At that moment, my own words popped into my head.

 _ **"It's my fault that that woman was kidnapped. I need to learn to clean up my own mess."**_

"This is what happens when you worthless heroes don't do your job properly!" Zephyr yelled.

 **"Wait!"** I screamed.

I don't remember anything that happened before I stepped out onto the street. It's all a blur, really. All I remember is that I was behind the wall and then I wasn't. The instant I screamed out, I had already regretted my decisions. I knew that whatever would lead after this wouldn't be good.

"Oh, looks like we've got a special guest here." Zephyr said with a huge smile on his face, "Y'know, I was planning on trying to find you, but you decide to show up right at my doorstep..." He tosses the woman aside into a pile of debris.

"Don't throw her around like she's nothing..!" I growled.

Zephyr chuckled, "Oh? What are you gonna do about it? Be my punching bag again?" He walked out onto the street and turned to face my direction, "Do you remember what I said last time we met? Well, I'm gonna keep that promise and make sure you never live to see another day!"

Tsukauchi struggled as he tried to crawl forward, "Kato! You need to get out of here!" Zephyr turned his head to look at Tsukauchi and smiled.

"...Kato..? That's your name?" Zephyr questioned. I didn't respond. I kept standing in the middle of the street, staring at him. "Well, Kato, let's get this over with."

Zephyr used his quirk to fly towards my left side. Like always, he was there in an instant. I didn't have any time to react. He swiftly moved his hand and placed in on the left side of my face. He used his blast and I was launched into the debris of the destroyed home. With his first hit, I had already sustained major damage. My shoulder was still sore after being healed and I was in no shape to fight. And the sun was starting to set, so I'd have a hard time seeing depending on how long I can withstand him. I had to do something. If I didn't, I would surely die.

"This is starting to get old, Kato. Having a one-sided fight is never fun." Zephyr said as he shrugged. Tsukauchi was on the ground watching, still struggling to get up. He looked around at all the unconscious and possibly dead bodies. He realized that if no one did something, that they would all die. So, he made one of the riskiest decisions a police officer or hero could make.

"Akira Kato!" he yelled. I slowly lifted my head up in response. "I, Naomasa Tsukauchi, head Police Detective, give you permission to fight!" Everything went silent for a few seconds. I could hear the wind blowing while no other sound was made. Then, Zephyr broke the silence with an insane sounding laugh.

"This is what I've been waiting for! Now, we can actually get down to business, Akira Kato!" he quaked.

Giving me permission to fight was the best option in this predicament and Tsukauchi knew that. There was no other way out of this. I had to make sure I didn't put this chance to waste. But, while this was all happening, a thought crossed my mind. What is Goro going to do? At the time, I had no idea if he was still behind the wall or not and if I tried to check, it would give his position away. If he was still there and I lost, he would be killed. I had no other choice but to win. I had to protect Goro and everyone else.

I used my quirk to create a pillar out of the debris to help lift me up. Once I regained my balance, I covered my right and left fists along with my shoes with strong debris from the destroyed home. Zephyr's response to this was a creepy open-mouth smile.

Before now, I had never actually given it my all against a villain, so I knew it wouldn't be easy. But, like I said, I didn't need to worry about that. The only thing that was on my mind was saving everyone around me. I took a deep breath and clenched my fists.

"I know that up until now I've just been your punching bag. But, I'm not letting you get past me," I said confidently, "I won't let you hurt these innocent people anymore!" Zephyr smiled even bigger and stretched out his arms.

"You're gettin' me excited!" he yelled, "Let's get this show on the road you brat!"


	11. Akira Kato and Itsuki Takada

_**10 Years Ago, Shiketsu High School...**_

 _"Itsuki Takada, you've injured yourself and other students countless times with your quirk. Yes, it's strong, but you need to learn to control and pace yourself. Until you can do that, you won't be allowed to return to our high school. If you want to become the hero you always say you'll be, then learn your own limits first."_

 _ **But...**_

 _"You haven't improved at all, Takada! I told you to train your quirk, not get even more reckless! I'm sorry, but in your current state, you are not fit to be a hero. Please leave before you cause any more trouble and hinder this school's name."_

 _Even after training my quirk and learning my limits, they still wouldn't let me back in. I don't understand. Is there something wrong with me? It's all my fault it ended like this, isn't it? Wait, no. That's all wrong. It's their fault. They're the reason my dream died. Why did I have such a stupid and unrealistic dream in the first place? Why did I think that using my quirk for other people would benefit me? My quirk is my own and I'll use it how I want to. I'll reach my dream in a different way._

 _ **Present Day...**_

"You're gettin' me excited!" he yelled, "Let's get this show on the road you brat!"

Zephyr didn't waste a second. Once he finished that sentence he blasted towards me, but since I had permission to fight, I was more aware of my surroundings. It felt like my senses were more responsive than usual. He still flew at me at a high speed, but now I could react. I quickly threw my arm like I had just thrown a bowling ball and created a huge wave of dirt, rock, and other pieces of debris. This wasn't meant to work as a regular attack and hurt him, no, I used it as a distraction.

Zephyr didn't want to fly straight into the wave, so he slowed himself down with a small blast in front of himself. At the moment he was slowing down, I ran around the wave and past his blind spot. After I had gotten past him, he used another blast to blow away the wave. Right when he noticed I wasn't there, he started to quickly turn around. But, I was already behind him. With all my might I let out a punch right into his back. It did nothing. Zephyr didn't even flinch from the punch.

"You brat..!" he said with a menacing tone. In an instant, he threw his right fist behind him while he turned his body. His movements were too quick and fluid for me to dodge. The side of his fist plowed right into my face. It hurt like hell. There was so much force behind his punches and he made sure that you felt his punch for a while. I staggered back a few steps in response from the punch. Quickly, Zephyr spun around with his right arm outstretched, ready to blast again. I couldn't dodge, his arm was coming at me way too fast. I decided to use my resources I had with me. I put my right arm in front of my face like I was holding a shield and used the rock/debris on my arm to create a shield-like object on my arm. He blasted right through it instantly, but I wasn't planning on it lasting more than one hit. I was using that shield as an opening.

"Smart move, Kato! But, that won't stop me!" Zephyr yelled as he broke my shield. He didn't realize, but right after he broke my shield, I had already been throwing my left fist towards him.

"That shield might not stop you, but my fist will!" I screamed as I hit Zephyr with an uppercut with my left fist.

 _ **5 Years Ago...**_

 _"Zephyr? That's your alias? Kinda lame if you ask me."_

 _"Oh, c'mon man. You're supposed to be supporting me through this stuff!"_

 _"Look, Itsuki, I know what you've been through and I understand where you're coming from. But, don't you think going the route of a villain is straying too far from your original goal?"_

 _"Yea, it is. But, I've been rejected in everything I try. I need to try something different to get my mind off of everything."_

 _"And becoming a villain is going to help? How?"_

 _"I'm... not sure."_

 _"What if this changes you... for the worse?"_

 _"Then stop me."_

 _"Are you sure?"_

 _"If there is ever a time where I go too far I want you to stop me, Hitoshi."_

 _"Okay, but you better not get to that point."_

 _ **Present Day...**_

After I hit Zephyr with the uppercut he had his head looking towards the sky, so I thought I was in the clear to attack again. But, even with him not looking at me, he put out his right arm in an instant and blasted me down the street. I didn't fly into the air this time after being blasted, I slid down the street. But, I was still going back at a high speed. Before I hit the wall, I threw my arm up and created a wall of concrete that was about 10 feet high to stop me in my place. The impact of hitting that wall was still bad, but it's better than being left incapacitated.

"Heh, I didn't think you'd actually get a hit on me," Zephyr said as he wiped the blood off of his face.

"Well, now that I have permission to fight you, there's no way I'd hold back," I responded.

Zephyr smiled, "Glad to hear it. I love fighting strong people in order to make myself and my quirk stronger," Zephyr popped his neck and knuckles, "But, I hate when they hold back."

There was one thing that I had wondered about Zephyr up until this point that I needed to ask him. I never brought it up since it was in the back of my mind, but this was my perfect chance to ask.

"Why do you do this..?" I asked desperately.

"Huh?" he questioned.

"Why do you decide to hurt people, innocent people..? How do you get any enjoyment out of this?!" I yelled.

"Wha-? Enjoyment..? I do this because-" he stopped.

"Because why?! What made you be like this?!" I screamed, clenching my fists.

I wasn't expecting to get an answer out of him. I just felt like I needed to ask him. Back then, I didn't really understand why people did the things they did. In my mind, there was always a reason behind everything. But, as I grew older I realized. I realized that not everyone has a reason for being evil or just a bad person. Some people are just bad by nature, but some people do have their reasons.

"What made me... be like this..?" Zephyr whispered to himself, "What made me..."

 _ **4 Years Ago, Unnamed Alleyway...**_

 _"Itsuki, please, think about what you're doing. It doesn't have to end like this."_

 _"Why doesn't it? This is my only option."_

 _"I said I'd support you, but this was way too far. Please, think about this. You told me to stop you if you went too far and I need to hold up my end of the deal!"_

 _"I know what I said and I appreciate you remembering, but I can't let anyone know about what happened."_

 _"Wait, please, Itsu-!"_

 _"I'm sorry..."_

 _"..."_

 _"Hitoshi..?"_

 _"..."_

 _"Hitoshi?"_

 _"..."_

 _"Hitoshi?!"_

 _"..."_

 _"Wh- what... what is wrong with me..? ...What have I done..?"_

 _ **Present Day...**_

"What made me... be like this..?" Zephyr whispered to himself, "What made me..."

"WHY?!" I yelled.

"...Myself!" Zephyr screamed.

"...Huh..?" I questioned.

"I'm the reason I'm like this!" Zephyr yelled as tears started to well up in his eyes, "It's all my fault! If I wouldn't have been like this... then maybe he'd still... he'd still be..." Tears streamed down Zephyr's face as he stood there staring at me. Like I said before, I didn't expect to get any answers, but this shocked me.

"...He..?" I whispered to myself, "Who are you talking about..?"

Zephyr's face went from despair to anger in less than a second, "It doesn't concern you!" He put his arms back and got ready to blast forward, "Don't bring him into this!" He screamed and blasted forward.

I couldn't really move from the spot I was in. I was pressed up against a rock wall, still in slight pain from hitting it. Instead of attacking with my body, I decided to use my quirk to its fullest potential.

"I'm gonna finish you right here, right now!" Zephyr yelled

I quickly shot out my arm towards Zephyr and a spike formed from the upper half of the rock wall. The spike zoomed towards Zephyr. He blasted to his right in order to dodge, but the spike still grazed his side, cutting his shirt and his skin.

I took a deep breath, "I'm not finished yet, Zephyr!"

* * *

 **Note: I'll admit, this chapter was a bit all over the place. (lol) I wanted to experiment a bit with this chapter. So, if you have any questions about anything you might be confused about, just ask me in the comments and I'll answer!**


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